The Elusive Plan
by marsbarr
Summary: Stacie, Donald, Chloe and Benji were fed up with their two friends. They're just about done with awkwardness that ensues whenever they all hang out. It's about time someone made them talk their troubles out and just... be together. (Set five years after graduation)


_**Author's Note** : Yeah, another one. I deleted my other story The Perfect Proposal because I thought it would take time to fully write and update. I didn't want it to be up. It just bothered me. This story will be a two shot. It was inspired by a buzzfeed video and the fact that I like putting this couple through an emotional journey. I'm a freakin psycho. I hope you guys find this to be interesting. I've got four Jeca stories lined up and already started but they will not see the light of day till a very long time. Just wanted you guys to know I'm fully devoted to keeping Jeca alive and well because I'm freakin pissed about the lack of them. Okay, please tell me how you feel about this._

 _Disclaimer: I don't own Pitch Perfect_

* * *

Beca and Jesse dated for seven years. It's been two years since they've broken up but everybody around them would think they were still together. Their group of friends, of course, knew that they were long over. Their decision to stay friends was a little rocky on their part but it just happened. Beca didn't plan on staying friends with the movie nerd but considering the fact that they had the same circle of friends, they were bound to see each other almost everyday of their lives. No one really knew who was at fault for the downfall of their relationship but everybody knew that they were fed up with the exes. It's been two years and their friends can still see all the million and one reasons why these two should be together. It wasn't until one day, Benji, Chloe, Stacie and Donald met up for lunch at an Italian restaurant on Madison Ave, that they had come up with an elusive plan for Jesse and Beca to gather up their shit and talk about it.

"Guys, I don't know about this. I mean, I'm all for them getting back together but it's been two years. Who knows if they even want to get back together?" Chloe asked as she started on her pasta.

Stacie and Benji rolled their eyes. Clearly, they've been spending too much time with Beca. "Chlo, this is a fantastic idea. Sure, we've seen them in different relationships in the two years of not being together, but none of them are ever longer than two weeks! It's perfect! They're basically saving themselves for the other. Plus, Benji needs help with his project and so I think we're hitting two birds with one stone, here." Stacie took a sip of her alcoholic drink.

Benji rubbed at the back of his neck, "Yeah, I mean, I was thinking about this idea for so long but I didn't know how to approach it." Despite Benji's fond of close-up magic, he knew that he couldn't make a living out of it so he found a love for filmmaking. He got a job at a small production company and attends a couple of classes at NYU to further his knowledge and experience. This was one of his recent film ideas. He wanted to take two people, sit them down in an empty room, facing each other with a table in between them. There's a deck of cards on the table with brutally honest questions which one person gets to ask the other and vice versa. Benji was originally going to ask around Central Park for a married couple or longterm couple to sit down and be his subjects but Stacie brought him the idea of Jesse and Beca. He was hesitant at first, not wanting to meddle in his best friend's love life but he did notice how miserable Jesse was when no one was looking.

"Alright, this is what's gonna go down. Benji's going to set up the apartment the way he needs to, you know, background and lighting and all that. I'm going to take Jesse out for lunch and Chloe and Stacie, you're going to steal Beca for an afternoon. And then, everything else will play out. There, bam. Perfect plan." Donald wiped his mouth with a napkin. Chloe was now staring at her friends, still unsure of this idea.

"I don't know guys… what makes you so sure Beca will even want to participate? As soon as she gets a whiff of what this is about, she's going to storm out of there,"

"Well, we won't know until we find out." Stacie gave her an assuring smile.

"Yeah, something tells me that these two will open up."

"I agree. They've gone two years without muttering a word about their break up," Donald agreed with his girlfriend.

"Yup, everything just might come spilling out." Benji murmured, "Does anyone actually know the reason why they called it quits?"

It was silent for awhile with everybody looking at each other.

"I don't know, Beca mentioned something about trust," Chloe finally said after a moment of silence.

"Do you think one of them cheated?" Donald asked.

"Well, I guess we'll find out, right?" Stacie wondered.

"Oh, yeah, about that, guys," Benji started, reaching for a glass of water, "No one's going to be in the room with them… except for me."

A series of "What?" "Dude, no!" "That's unfair!" exclaims came attacking Benji but he raised his hands in defense,

"It's the only way for them to be really comfortable with these questions and feel like it's just the two of them talking it out."

"Okay, then why do you get to be there?" Stacie asked.

"Uhm, hello.. I need to operate the cameras." Everybody groaned in protest but it was the plan. Two days from now, they're holding their friends hostage and making them talk out their bottled up feelings. It was a 50/50 situation. They're still unsure of the outcome but they're all hoping that they get to be relieved of the misery that is the tension between the two exes whenever they all hang out. Of course, they also see the obvious love and longing between the two.

* * *

Benji woke up at 9 in the morning in a panic. Today was the day and he was feeling anxious about it. He had charged up all the batteries and emptied out all the memory cards the previous night. He wanted to be prepared. He cleared out the living room, only wanting to use the blank wall as the background. He got up from bed to make a cup of coffee and went to work in his loft apartment that he shared with Jesse Swanson for two years now. Luckily, Jesse left at 6am every morning for work, which gave Benji time to set up. He got the studio lights set up, with the chairs in the middle and a small table in between them. He adjusted the three cameras covering the angles he wanted. One camera was in the middle which caught a perfect shot of the two chairs, while the other two cameras were set on either side of the middle one. One camera would capture Beca's face while the other would capture Jesse's. Benji wanted the use of the different angles to capture what the project was truly about. He wanted to capture nothing but raw feelings. One person could say something and not look at the other, not catching the other's expression which is what Benji hoped he'd get today. He wanted to capture the emotions that no one wanted to show and that was the reason for a camera focusing on each subject's face.

After adjusting the cameras and lighting, Benji stood up and admired his work. It was only a matter of time till the others managed to grab Jesse and Beca. It might all be downhill from there.

* * *

"Chloe, it's my one day off.. can't I just spend it in bed?" Beca exclaimed from under her pillow. Chloe had bursted into her apartment with a cup of coffee in her hands and the ginger was now propped up at the side of Beca's bed.

"No! We finally get to have a whole day to spend together without you running off to work! I need my girl time, Becs… and a new pair of shoes."

Beca groaned and came up from under the pillow and blanket. "You owe me." Beca made her way to the bathroom to prep herself for a day of shopping with Chloe.

"Oh and Stacie will meet us at the cafe in like," Chloe glanced at her watch, "fifteen minutes, so… hurry your cute butt up." Chloe stood and made her way out of the bedroom to wait for Beca.

"Ugh." Beca muttered.

* * *

"Alright, thanks, Tom. I'll get you those documents as soon as I can. Bye." Jesse hung up the phone and rubbed his temples. It has been nothing but nonstop calls all morning. Jesse was a well off music composer but he also took on the business side of being a music composer. He manages a team of musicians that go off on movie projects for dozens of companies. Whenever he's not composing music for a film, he's managing a team of other composers to make sure film companies get what they ask for.

A knock sounded on his office door and in came Jesse's coworker and part time best friend (when Benji's not around), Donald.

"Hey, bud, you got a sec?"

"Uh, I think so," Jesse glanced at the papers in front of him. There were a shit ton of sheet music to go over and Jesse was just not feeling it today. "What's up?"

"I was wondering if you wanted to grab early lunch?"

Jesse took a glance at his watch and praised the heavens above. It was nearing eleven and he really didn't have anything to do today but send a few documents via e-mail and go over some sheet music. He wanted to get out of the office but he had to put in a good five hours of office hours, which he has now fulfilled.

"Yes, I can leave in like fifteen minutes. What'd you have in mind?"

"Meatballs?" Donald asked.

Jesse gave his friend a smile, "Meatballs."

* * *

"So, what made you two decide that a shopping spree was in order?" Beca asked as she sipped on her coffee. They were now sitting at a small, yet comfy cafe by Beca's apartment.

"Well, we're all off work and I think we need to spend some time together. We haven't seen you in like a week, Becs." Chloe answered.

"Yeah, and frankly, we no longer know what's going on in your life." Stacie added.

"Guys, I've just been busy with work. It's been nonstop work. I need to pay my dues, you know."

"Okay, we get that. But you need a social life as well. "

"I get enough of a social life with you two. Plus, I go out with the entire group on the weekends!"

"Not all the time." Chloe added.

"Chloe, I can't go out to bars and clubs with all of you all the time. Sometimes, I want a weekend for myself, okay. As much as I love you both, I can't handle you two and the guys altogether."

"We understand, Beca. We're just worried." Chloe laid a hand on her friend's forearm.

"Worried about what?" At the two similar expressions on their faces, Beca groaned. "Seriously, guys. It's been two years. I'm single and I'm happy about it."

"We're not worried about that… we're worried about your little… conquests."

"Conquests?"

Stacie rolled her eyes at Chloe's choice of words, "What Chlo's trying to say is that we're worried you're going to catch something if you don't stop hopping around with random guys in the city."

Beca chuckled, "You're worried about how active my sex life is?"

"No, we're worried about the reason why you're doing it."

Beca's smile faltered. "No. Don't do that. It's not because of him. Let's go. Aren't we supposed to be shopping?" Beca got up from the lounge chair and dropped the coffee cup in the trash.

Chloe and Stacie looked at each other with worried expressions. It's going to be a lot harder to get Beca into Benji's apartment than they thought. It's a good thing they had a little over an hour to persuade her.

* * *

"So, what's up, man? How've you been? I feel like it's been forever since we hung out."

"Donald, we went out last week." Jesse perused The Meatball Shop menu, trying to figure out what he wanted for lunch, exactly.

"Well, yeah but I haven't seen you all week… and we work together."

"I've just been around. I was in Tribeca on Monday, trying to deal with a small studio that's trying to get a short film out to this year's film festival… turns out the guy wanted me to compose the music, not the rest of the team."

"Oh, how's that going to go?"

"I don't know. I've got a shit ton of sheet music to go over and on top of it all, I've gotta sit down this weekend and come up with an entirely new score for this film."

The two friends ordered their meal and were now seated across each other in silence. Donald was going through his entire brain trying to figure out how the hell he's going to go through with this plan. "You didn't answer my question, though."

"What question?" Jesse asked after he took a sip of water.

"How've you been?"

Jesse glared at him, "Dude. Seriously?"

"What?"

"Again with this?"

"What are you talking about?"

"You know, I would expect that from Benji, but not you- wait. Come to think of it, Benji hasn't mentioned her for a few days."

"Dude.. what?"

"Benji always asks me how I'm doing… of course, he really means how am I doing now that Beca and I are done."

"Okay? And?"

"He'd mention something about us almost everyday but lately, nothing. It's been quiet in the apartment."

"And you're complaining?"

Jesse did a double take. "What? N-no. It's just, I don't know.. It's weird. It's nice, but weird."

"Jess, you're not fooling anyone."

"What do you mean?"

"We all know you still love her."

"Don, of course I do. I spent seven years of my life with her, she's always going to be someone special to me. But that's.. that's over and done with. There's no going back." Jesse silently thanked the heavens above as the waiter came out with their meatballs. He started to dig into his meal while Donald still stared at his friend.

"What the hell happened, man?"

Jesse ignored the question, not wanting to talk about something he promised himself he'd never talk about again.

"You just gonna sit there and ignore your meatballs?" He asked with his mouthful.

* * *

"Guys, can we take a break? My feet are killing." Beca stopped at a bench while she set a few of her shopping bags down.

"Beca, come on, there's a sale going on at Macy's. We should totally go check it out if we want to get the good deals."

"Ok, but let's just take a breather. We've been nonstop walking and these bags are killing my arms and I'm pretty sure I've got a blister. Also, I'm melting from this heat, I shouldn't have worn a hoodie." Stacie rolled her eyes at her tiny friend.

"If it's so bad, why don't we stop by at Benji's? We can chill at his place, have some drinks, enjoy air conditioning."

"I don't think that's a good idea, Stace." Beca started to take off her one shoe when Chloe walked back to meet up with them.

"Why are we stopping?"

"Shortstack over here can't handle the heat."

"Well, Becs, that's because you're wearing a hoodie, black jeans and converse. You're practically absorbing the sun's rays. And attracting so many death glares, will you put your shoe back on?"

"Chloe, chill out. Like I said, I've got a blister, so no, I'm not putting my shoe back on."

"I still think we should stop by Benji's. He lives like two blocks away, you can make it with a blister."

Beca rolled her eyes at the tall brunette. She tried her best to avoid going to their apartment, in hopes that she didn't have to bump into Jesse. The thought that he'll most likely be at work today, she gave in. "Fine."

* * *

Jesse finished up his meal and so did Donald. After answering a short phone call, Jesse reached for the bill but Donald grabbed it before he could.

"My treat."

Jesse finished his phone call and glared at Donald.

"What? I invited you to lunch so that means I pay." Jesse rolled his eyes.

"Alright, what's next? You going back to work?"

"Nah, I'm thinking about stopping by and hanging with Benji. You?"

"Going home sounds good to me. I've gotta stop and pick up some groceries first."

Donald checked his watch. The girls should be on their way to the apartment by now. They're right on schedule. Donald looked up at Jesse, "Yeah, sure. Let's do that."

* * *

"Hey, girls!" Benji opened up the apartment door as wide as he could and acted as surprised as he could. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"

Beca rolled her eyes, "Hey, Benj, we thought we'd stop by and chill here for a few minutes before we head back to war… aka, shopping."

Stacie pushed Beca into the apartment and the girls sat their shopping bags down. "Little Miss Badass over here couldn't handle the heat and a small blister." Chloe smiled at Benji, giving him an assured nod.

Beca groaned as she plopped down on the couch and removed her shoes. Chloe went straight for the fridge to grab cold bottles of water while Stacie heated up their takeout from lunch.

"What're you up to, Benji?" Beca asked while she massaged her foot. She noticed the couch had been moved all the way to the back wall and took note of the cameras and lights that took over the living room. "This a new project?"

Benji walked to fiddle with a camera, "Yup, just set this up today. Gotta get started on it if I want a good grade." Benji smiled nervously.

"Ah, what's it about?"

"Uhm," Benji looked at Beca, then to Stacie who shoved a bite of chicken into her mouth and then to Chloe who gulped her water down. None of them made eye contact with him so when he turned back to Beca, he gave her a sheepish smile and said "love."

She frowned, "Okay? What about it?"

"Uh, what is love? Something like that? I'm improvising a bunch of stuff… it's part of the assignment."

"Hmm, sounds interesting." Beca got up to grab one of the shopping bags. "I'm going to go change into something more appropriate for this weather. Chlo, can you grab me some water, please?"

"Yup," Chloe handed her a bottle of water and went back to snack on whatever Stacie was busy eating. Beca took the bag and water with her to the bathroom, not noticing how weird everyone was acting.

* * *

Jesse and Donald got off the elevator, greeting one of Jesse's neighbors who passed by. "What are you and Benji going to do?" Jesse asked as he fished for his keys in his pocket while holding a grocery bag with his other hand.

"I don't know, maybe go see a movie?"

"Oh, that's sounds perfect right now. I'll probably tag along," Jesse opened the door and Donald silently thought to himself _no, you're not._

The two men walked in and saw Stacie and Chloe.

"Oh, hey, girls! What's up?" Jesse asked as he set the grocery bag on the counter. He kissed Chloe on the cheek and fist bumped Stacie as Donald went to sit by her side and gave her a kiss.

"We were just out shopping, thought we'd come say hi and keep Benji some company. No work today?" Chloe asked.

Jesse started to put away stuff into the fridge, "Nah, got off early. Had lunch with Don." Jesse grabbed a beer and made his way to the couch. It was a hot day and he just wanted to relax. When he plopped down onto the couch, he noticed a pair of converse.

"Is Beca he-"

Just then, the bathroom door opened and out came Beca in a pair of denim shorts and a loose top. "Chlo, I think this shirt's too big, I think I wanna exchange-" when Beca looked up, she was greeted with five pairs of eyes. "Oh, hey… What's going on here?"

* * *

 _ **A/N** : Thoughts? Comments? Concerns?_


End file.
